Letters to the editor

Electricity questions

I find the Premier's response to EP mayors on electricity problems a little vague.

He warned against the option for Eyre Peninsula to operate from its own mini-grid and against isolating ourselves as it was higher risk than staying on the main grid.

He doesn't say why, because he isn't an expert in this field and he relies on information fed to him, as we all do at every level of government.

But, like many of your readers, I do want to know why. Why is it better to rely on thousands of kilometres of high tension lines than generating power locally? Why is it better to buy power from interstate? Why is it good for so many companies at every level of power delivery to make a profit, especially when some do nothing except send a bill.

Why are our local generators owned by a company, which is owned by a company, which is owned by a French company that doesn't want to give anyone clear answers?

Why can we not find ways to utilise the excess production of EP wind farms? There are so many other related questions.

We are moving into an era when individual households will take themselves off the grid. There must be a reliable way for this to happen at a community level or a local business level. The further away the responsibility is, the less reliable is the outcome.

GRAHAM MANTLE

Port Lincoln

Democracy

Ever wonder how democracy, the principle that all people should have equal rights, works for you and I in our country? Do you think that your equal rights have been ignored, when for example, the decisions about a reliable power supply are implemented?

Where did ETSA go? Why does our most consistent source of power come from coal-fired power stations in Victoria?

We could have kept the coal-fired power stations in South Australia operating. Oh, what a doodle! But wait, it was our democratic elected government who made those decisions!

Here is a little story how democracy works in our country. A long time ago, in the early 1950s, the British Prime Minister rang Robert Menzies, our Prime Minister, to ask would it be okay to do some atom bomb testing out Maralinga way. Nothing big like, only to a maximum of 25,000 tonnes of T.N.T, might barbecue a bit of wildlife and scrub, no big deal.

Big Rob Menzies, being a devout royalist and infatuated with young Queen Lizzie, replied, “that will be fine, come on down anytime”.

Good old Rob, he decided for our country without conferring with his cabinet party, without any discussion in parliament that it was safe to do so. The truth be known, the Poms had some idea of what they were doing, but we Aussies, had no idea.

There were many tests, one ground level test left a large crater and one day a indigenous family and their four dogs sheltered in this crater. When snacking on some smashed avocado and coconut water they were approached by a whitefella. He said “this is not a good place for you, the missus and kid’s bloke. It’s too hot here, and I’m not just talking about the sunshine, while the kids are on school holidays you should go south to Yalata for a vacation. So, the family left but next day the four dogs were shot!

Obviously, there was no control over the weather and clouds of radioactive dust drifting all over the continent. There were high radioactive readings in Darwin, Adelaide, Brisbane, etcetera.

Does the working class, the taxpayers, the backbone of the balanced economy have more control of our country today? No! New technology and automated innovation will replace workers, who benefits from that?

If there are limited real jobs, where does the federal government get its taxation funds from? Why is everything made so difficult! Er-ar-duh-duh, please explain?